Few stores plan to add extra staff to help the holiday shoppers
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Derek Fisk stacks toys at Fun Buy the Pound in Robinson Mall. The store is sticking to its current crew and just giving them extra hours to meet the holiday rush.
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Santa will not be taking on extra elves at the North Pole this Christmas.
The jolly old employer is expected to follow the trends of retailers nationwide who do not plan to load their aisles with seasonal help to assist holiday shoppers.
John Challenger, CEO of Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, is predicting no increase in holiday hiring by retailers over the number hired last year.
The experience of wandering around the retail mecca of Robinson bears that out.
A few stores have signs advertising job openings -- Dollar Tree, Ikea, JoAnn Fabrics & Craft, and Toys R Us -- but more retailers are like Brenda Fisk. She owns the toy store Fun Buy the Pound, which has locations at The Mall at Robinson and in Sewickley.
PG CHARTMs. Fisk is sticking with her current crew and just giving them extra hours to meet the holiday rush.
She said the rough economy had held down hiring.
"When it all started going bad two or three years ago, people started dealing with what they had. People are stretching to make it work," she said.
In 2006, before the recession hit, there were 746,800 holiday hires by retailers across the country, according to numbers that Challenger, Gray and Christmas gathered from data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the midst of the recession in 2008, only 324,900 people were hired for the Christmas season. Last year, while hiring was not yet up to pre-recession levels, 655,825 jobs were added for the three-month holiday shopping season. Mr. Challenger expects that number to remain the same this year.
No one is expecting a blockbuster holiday season for retailers. The National Retail Federation is predicting sales will increase by 2.8 percent over last year. The International Council of Shopping Centers is predicting a 3 percent increase in sales for department stores.
Macy's is increasing its staffing levels from last year. This year the department store operator, which also has Bloomingdale's stores, is hiring 78,000 seasonal workers. Last year it hired 75,000.
Best Buy, however, announced it would hire 15,000 additional people for the holiday season this year, half of the number that helped the consumer electronics retailer during last year's end-of-year rush. The retailer's sales have flagged in recent quarters as consumers pulled back on purchases of video game systems, TVs and mobile phones.
First Published November 6, 2011 12:00 am
